Reforestation Hints
Background 2
If you have a new tree with good roots already, 2
Making a tree nursery 3
Prepare the soil 5
Planting trees from cuttings 5
Preparing pots 6
For wetter areas, grow bare-rooted seedlings in seedbeds 6
For drier areas, the method for potted seedlings is best 7
How to plant them 8
How to control insects 9
Protecting trees from animals 9
Making a live fence 10
Some natural remedies 11
How to get the seeds 12
Starting a timber plantation 13
Grow your own food crops 14
Predatory and parasitic insects 15
Fertilizer trees 16
Crop rotation 16
How to make and use compost 17
More Infos 20
The Moringa Tree 20
Jojoba-Plant 22
Links 22
Background
Ø Only 25% of the rainfall occurs on the earth by the evaporation of the oceans. 75% of the precipitation are a product of green plants. Lehane describes it: "The deforested land has no voice with which it could call for water. The clouds move over it and keep the rain to other, greener areas."
Ø Due to evaporation of the trees and plants, the climate changes and there are not so much the extremes of hot and cold temperature.
Ø They encourage rainwater to remain in the soil instead of disappearing too fast
Ø Trees give us shade, also for young plants
Ø Trees make the soil more fertile, increase soil moisture and reduce erosion.
Ø Trees supply us with wood that we use to build houses, make furniture, build fences, and burn for heating and cooking.
Ø Trees provide us with fruits. You can grow many food trees—on a large scale to sell, or in a garden to eat at home. These foods provide us with carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals.
Ø They provide us with animals. Birds and other animals will return to areas they had left when their habitat is restored.
Ø They keep the moisture for a long time and release it slowly.
Ø They also help prevent desertification.
Ø Trees act as windbreaks to protect crops from strong winds
Ø Trees save money for fuel, stakes and many more.
Ø They generate about 40 % of the world’s oxygen (in one year, an average tree inhales 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of CO2 and exhales enough oxygen for a family of four for a year.)
Ø Forests provide significant income and livelihood options
Ø The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) recommends the planting of deciduous trees (loosing the leaves every year) where water scarcity is a problem. They consume less water than evergreens during critical periods of water shortage and compete less with crops.
Ø As the forest grows, trees can be thinned out or pruned and used for timber or fuel. People can collect fruit, seeds, nuts and medicines from the forest.
Ø Fertilizer trees make the soil richer so crops grow better! And thus reduce the need for chemical fertilizers
Ø Trees control weeds such as the parasite striga
Ø In short: Trees provide a wide range of products (timber, fruit, medicine, beverages, fodder, oils)
Ø They provide life supporting services (carbon sequestration, erosion control, soil fertility)
Ø Trees are simply beautiful!
If you have a new tree with good roots already
Ø Remove some of the soil to get the roots more free.
Good time is before the rainy season.
Ø Good position of the tree: Not too close to others, enough sun? Few wind?
Ø Dig a hole deep enough that the not of the tree (if there is one at the trunk) is still above ground.
Ø Put the tree in the hole and fill with good soil
Ø Press the new soil with your feed.
Ø Put a stick beside in the wind-direction and fix the tree at this stick.
Ø Irrigate it. Not direct at the trunk, a bit away (at the end of the roots)
Ø You must protect it against goats etc with a fence
Ø You must protect it against frost in the winter. For example with some old leaves around the trunk
Ø If you have a fruit tree cut the branches that three branches remain at the side with the same altitude and one if going high.
Ø If you have the tree inside to grow up, do not immediately expose it to sun. Go step by step from shadow to sun. Otherwise you burn the leaves.
Making a tree nursery
Ø The tree nursery also needs space for stores, seedbeds, compost and soil heaps, Pathways between rows, windbreaks and drainage.
Ø Propagating or growing trees from locally gathered seed is best, where they have evolved resistance to disease and fungal attack.
Ø It seems that getting a tree from a seed is better then the transportation if the young tree from a shop and then planting it. Also the soil is often different and is a shock for the plant.
Ø It’s good to leave an open strip for to prevent fire and harmful animals and for irrigation.
Ø Fast growing trees need a lot of water
Ø Avoid windy hilltops—the wind will dry out the nursery and damage delicate seedlings. If this is the only available land, make windbreaks around the nursery and smaller hedges between the beds.
Ø Avoid valley bottoms as they are easily flooded. If this is the only space you have, make raised beds and dig trenches for drainage.
Healthy seedlings need good soil. It
should be well drained with a mix of
sandy and loamy soil, high in humus
and nutrients and slightly acid.
Clear your space of all vegetation and fence it to keep out grazing animals.
You’ll need to make a roof, especially if there is too little natural shade. Use a material that gives about 50% shade.
Young seedlings will grow best if they are in a spot that offers them shade from the burning sun, healthy well-draining, soil and protection from strong winds and rainwater run-off plus nibbling animals!
Less water is needed to water seedlings in pots. But make sure the containers or small pots can drain easily to avoid drowning the seedlings in too much water!
Decide whether to grow ‘bare-rooted’ or ‘potted’ seedlings and where to grow them
Prepare the soil
The soil in the seedbed or the pots and containers must be lightweight, with plenty of organic matter, and it must hold water well. To make good soil, mix sand, soil and compost or manure together, and stir the mix well. The mixture for the nursery soil will depend on the texture of the
soil.
Planting trees from cuttings
Cuttings allow you to produce new plants without seeds. Cuttings from healthy fruit trees that produce plentiful, good quality fruit will grow into equally useful new trees—and produce fruit early. You can take cuttings from branches (stem cuttings) or roots. A branch still attached to the tree can also grow roots before you cut it loose—this is called layering.
Branches for cutting should have at least 4 bud eyes or nodes. You may be able to get several
cuttings from one branch.
• Use a sharp knife or pruning shears to make clean cuts on both ends.
• Make a slanting cut at the base (this gives a larger area for root formation) and a straight cut on the top (to reduce drying out).
This also makes it easier to identify the top when planting—never plant cuttings upside-down because they won’t grow.
Make the top cut 1–3 cm above a node and the lower cut just below a node.
Plant the cuttings quickly to keep them from drying out, and label them
Plant the cuttings at a 45° angle. About 2/3 of the total length should be in the ground and at least 2 nodes should be above ground, facing upward
Your cuttings will develop roots faster and easier if you nurture them in pots or propagation beds before planting them out.
Preparing pots
• Fill 2/3 of the pot with a mixture of topsoil and compost and press down. Or coarse river sand mixed with about 20% compost.
• Fill the rest of the pot with a mixture of equal amounts of sawdust or coffee husks and washed sand or soil.
• Water well. Dip the bases of the cuttings in a weak soap solution and insert them into the soil.
Cuttings need humid conditions. If you live in a dry area, spread a layer of polythene over the bed, cut holes in it and insert the cuttings through the holes—but be careful not to let them get too hot.
Provide the beds with 50–70% shade and protect from wind.
• Water twice daily. Should be Airy, warm, humid
Reduce shading and watering when roots are a few centimetres long.
When the roots are 4–6 cm long, transport the cuttings to the planting site.
Take care with the delicate roots and keep the cuttings moist
The best time to plant out your seedlings is at the beginning of the long or short rainy season.
For wetter areas, grow bare-rooted seedlings in seedbeds
Step 1. Prepare the seedbeds
Make a frame for the seedbed from sticks or stones, up to 10 m long by 1 m wide. Bury about 5 cm of the frame in the ground, leaving about 20 cm above the ground’s surface.
• Cover the bottom of the bed with a 5-cm layer of stones or rubble, to give the bed good drainage, and add a 2–3-cm layer of normal soil on top of these small stones or rubble.
• Fill the remaining area with your prepared soil mix to just below the frame.
• Make sure the surface is flat and firm.
it is important to get informed by experienced people such as forestry agents to find exactly what pretreatment for the seeds is needed:
Soaking in cold water, Soaking in hot water
Mechanical methods: nicking, piercing, chipping or filing, cracking, dewinging, burning;
Acid pretreatment: soaking in acid
When to plant and how best to do this depends on the climate where you live.
It will be useful to ask forestry extension workers near you for their advice.
Step 2. Sow the seeds
Cover seeds with the soil mix to twice the depth of the size of seeds
Step 3. Keep the seedlings moist, watering them with a fine spray
Thin the seedlings if they are too close to each other
Step 4. Transplant the seedlings from the seedbed to a transplant bed so that they have more space
do this 3–5 weeks after the seeds have germinated. Water the seedling seedbed well the day before transplanting. Lift each seedling carefully, holding it by the top of a leaf rather than the
stem. Plant the seedlings in the transplant bed 10–15 cm apart and in rows 20 cm apart
Keep the transplanted seedlings shaded and water them regularly
Gradually remove the shade as the seedlings grow so that they are used to full sun by the time they are planted out. About 1 month before planting out, gradually reduce watering. This too prepares the seedlings for the drier environment they will face once planted outside the seedbed.
For drier areas, the method for potted seedlings is best
Step 1. First prepare the pots or containers
if you collect old containers and use them as pots. You can recycle things like plastic bags, empty tins, milk cartons, small boxes or cooking fat containers
Shake the pots as you fill them to shake down the soil. Leave them for a few days before sowing the seeds, to let the soil settle
Step 2. Sow the seeds
Step 3. Keep the seedlings moist, watering them with a fine spray
Step 4. As the seedlings grow, move the pots every 2 weeks to prevent taproots from growing out of the pots
If any do grow out, cut them off with a sharp knife.
Step 5. Keep the seedlings shaded and water them regularly
Gradually remove the shade as the seedlings grow so that they are used to full sun by the time they are planted out.
About 1 month before planting out, reduce watering gradually, to prepare them for their environment
How to plant them
Ø Tear furrow (groove, dt=Furche) in the slope of a hill, fill with loose soil and plant the trees. The roots fix the soil!
Ø If the only land available slopes steeply, make terraces.
Ø Land with a 2–5% slope is ideal for a nursery.
Ø Excess water can should run off
Ø Clear any vegetation away from each planting site. In dry areas make a microbasin (see below).
Ø The day before moving seedlings from the nursery, water the transplant bed thoroughly. Put the roots of the plants in bags or cover them so that they are not exposed to direct sunlight. Try to keep them moist.
Ø Dig holes much wider and deeper than the roots—at least 30 cm wide and 30 cm deep
Ø Plant one seedling in each hole and fill the hole with soil.
Ø Compact the soil gently around each seedling and water it if there is no rain.
Put thorny branches or woven cages around
each seedling to protect it from grazing animals
Dig a shallow basin around each planting site, piling the soil into a ridge (30–50 cm high and 60–
90 cm wide) around the downhill side, 15 cm from the edge of the basin. Plant the seedling in the middle of the basin.
How to control insects
Ø Keep the area around your seedbed clear of other vegetation that offers the insect pests food and shelter.
Ø Grow insect-repelling plants like pyrethrum, garlic, chillies and marigolds around the beds.
Ø Destroy the nests and queens of termites and ants.
Ø Pick insects off seedlings when you see them.
Ø If you find seedlings whose stems have been cut, look for grey or brown cutworms 1–2 cm long, in the soil beneath. Pick them out by hand and destroy them.
Ø Spray seedlings infected with scale insects and mealy bugs with water in which you have steeped tobacco or garlic, or with a soap and water mix.
Ø Many natural predators in the nursery help control pests. Spiders, lizards, snakes and frogs are among the many natural helpers that can control pest problems. Before killing any animal, first consider what it eats!